How To Lose a Girl In Ten Seconds
by NotAnotherFanficWriter
Summary: Sonic devises a plan to rid himself of his greatest admirer, but how can he do it without hurting Amy's feelings?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** This story is set in my headcanon Sonic universe; which is basically the games with a bit of pruning and some AoStH thrown in. Hope you enjoy, please review and all that jazz.

* * *

The blue hedgehog sat on the hill, his chin in his hands, gazing at the sunset. This was a fairly unusual sight, (and not because the hedgehog was blue; as such things are naturally occurring on the planet Mobius) for this was Sonic The Hedgehog; the heroic free-spirited nomad and the fastest thing alive, objectively doing nothing at all but sitting around. Sonic however was deep in thought, he was deep in thought moreover about a meeting he had last week with a girl called Amy Rose.

Amy Rose was a young pink hedgehog of a slightly younger age than Sonic who had from time immemorial deeply admired him. 'Admired' however would be an understatement. As far as Amy was concerned Sonic was not merely the best thing since sliced bread as much as the universe must have been woefully inadequate to dwell in before he graced it with his presence. To her, never was a hedgehog so brave, so funny, so kind, so manly and as downright gorgeous as Sonic. For Amy life was simply not complete unless she and 'her Sonic' were together. Unfortunately these feelings were not shared by Sonic; who regarded her at best as a good acquaintance and at worst an outright pain in his prickly backside.

Despite this Amy had taken it upon herself to keep an ever watchful eye for Sonic and use every possible chance to meet him in a vain attempt to win his affection. Last week was no exception. Amy had tracked Sonic by following one of his usual calling cards; a path of destruction caused by his battling the forces of the nefarious genius Dr Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik. Robotnik had been clandestinely building a listening outpost to spy on several nearby cities in the Marble Ruin Zone and Sonic along with his boon companion the young twin-tailed fox Miles 'Tails' Prower had set out to stop him and his robotic minions.

When Amy arrived on the scene the two had already caused a healthy about of robotic disassembly and were about to figure out a way to destroy the construction site when she gave out a cry that was one of the few things that gave Sonic an uncomfortable lurch in his stomach.

"Sooonic!"

"Amy?!" he yelled, turning round with a look of confusion. "W-what are you doing here?!"

"I've come here to help of course!" she said as she pulled her massive 'Piko-Piko' Hammer (another thing that made Sonic uncomfortable) from out of seemingly nowhere. "Now let's bash some 'bot butt!"

"Well we're kinda already done with that," said Sonic trying to give a friendly shrug. "In fact all we've got left to do is knock down this construction site and we'll be done like dinner, so I'm afraid you're a bit too late to do anything."

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do?" said Amy with a tinge of disappointment, she was always desperate to prove to Sonic that she was a strong capable woman (which she was).

"Yeah, I mean once Tails and I work out a way to knock this all down that'll be it, there really is nothing you can do to help."

"Oh, is that so?" Said Amy with a roguish smile (yet again another thing that made Sonic uncomfortable) as she suddenly leapt forward with a war-whoop and swung her hammer with unnatural strength at a central pillar at the bottom of the skeletal structure that was the unfinished base, meeting it with a loud clang.

With a tremendous shaking and rumbling the whole edifice began to collapse sending out a wave of dust and smoke as various flammable objects began to ignite.

Sonic could not help but be impressed. "Er… Thanks Amy!" he said as he slowly turned away to leave with Tails "catch you later!"

"Is that all you can say Sonic?!" said Amy a sudden slight but deadly edge to her voice.

"I'm a guy of few words" said Sonic nervously as he began to walk away with Tails, "I'll see you around."

"I just knocked the whole building down and _that's_ all you can say?!"

"Well it's not as though we couldn't have done it" Said Sonic with sudden spirit.

"As quickly as _that_?!" Amy said fuming.

"Well maybe not but…"

"I thought you liked doing things fast! Or is that only when _you're_ being the fast one?!"

"Amy, Amy! I said 'thanks' what more do you want?" Said Sonic knowing all too well what the answer was.

Amy's fury melted as quickly as it appeared, giving over to wistful joy.

"To take me out on a date…" she said clasping her hands together and rolling her eyes in a melodramatic pose.

Sonic had seen this display on many an occasion and it had yet to win his heart.

"No" he retorted flatly.

And so Amy switched back to fury, pulling out her hammer and pursing the hapless Sonic over the hills as he gave out his splutter of excuses and explanations while Tails who had long grown accustomed to these infrequent occurrences merely hurried off to his workshop. Sonic of course outran her and as usual Amy wandered back home bitter and upset, settling down in her gaily coloured bedroom to turn all 18 Sonic photos of hers (one for each of his birthdays) against the wall and sulked on her bed.

As mentioned such occurrences had happened before with minor variations but all with the same end result of Sonic spurring Amy's affection. It is truly a testament to the strong friendship of both parties that Sonic and Amy still spoke with each other despite these upsets, and as usual Amy quickly put the incident behind her as a minor setback on her course to marriage (her usual cool-down time was 3 days, 1 if she had some tea and sympathy or a box of chocolates). Sonic however was despite his good-naturedness beginning to wane in sprit. He had been through this before one-time too many and it seemed that he would have to accept a future where he was pursued over hill and dale by a pink hedgehog with a hammer, such a future was however not something to be meekly endured but avoided at all costs. The question was; how was he going to do it without hurting Amy's feelings?

Thus Sonic found himself sitting on one of his favourite rocks deep in contemplation over the conundrum that presented itself. On the whole the exercise was proving to be far more difficult than he first imagined, this was not some problem that could be solved by simply running fast, spin-dashing, putting a few emeralds on some pedestals or even pressing up and down on the D-Pad. In fact every time a solution seemed to present itself he immediately dismissed it; the thing was he did not want to hurt Amy physically or mentally and most of his solutions would come to one or both of those results. He had just dismissed the idea of going back in time to prevent himself meeting Amy in the first place on the grounds of impracticality (as well as damaging the space-time continuum or something like that) when his ears picked up the familiar whirring sound that signalled the arrive of his best friend and quasi-kid brother Tails.

"Hiya Sonic!" He said as he landed next to the hedgehog, "whadya thinking about?"

"Amy" Sonic replied simply, not even looking at him.

"Well she's not mad anymore from what I've heard."

"Huh, I figured as much" said Sonic morosely.

"What are you thinking about then?"

"How to get rid of her"

"What?!" Tails couldn't help but be shocked by this. "But we're friends with her!"

"I know, but that's it, we're just _friends_, yet she thinks we're in love or something mushy like that. I'm just thinking how to put a stop to that."

"Any luck?" said Tails as he sat beside Sonic to watch the sunset.

"No" said Sonic with a hollow laugh "it's a total catch-22 style bummer."

"Well…" began Tails with a pensive look in his eyes "have you considered just, asking her out on a date?"

Sonic suddenly grabbed Tails and shook him violently "Who are you and what have you done with Tails?!" he bellowed at the kit.

"It's really me Sonic! Just let me fin…"

"What's Tail's favourite food?!"

"Chili dogs with extra cheese! But that's not exactly difficult!" Tails protested.

Sonic considered this but still held on to Tails. "Er… what's _my_ favourite food then?"

Tails just rolled his eyes with a sigh of exasperation.

"Really, Sonic? That's the best you could think of? It's chili dogs by the way, _everyone_ knows that. You do need to think of better questions in case I really was a duplicate."

"Oh really, _Miles_?" Sonic said with a smug smile.

Sonic knew Tails hated it when people called him by his real name and the look of annoyance in Tails's face spoke far clearer than a thousand questions that he was the genuine article. He set him down.

"Sorry about that little bro" Sonic said with sincerity "It's just I thought Amy might have cooked up some crazy scheme to get me to go with her like hypnotising you or whatever, you can't put _anything_ past that girl" he ended bitterly.

"Come on Sonic, she's really nice, maybe you should go out." said Tails who accepted the apology readily.

"I've gone over this before, I _can't_ have a girlfriend, I'm a free spirit with a taste for adventure, and I'm 18 for goodness sake! I don't want to get married and put up with kids and a mortgage and all that before I finished the teens!" Sonic said with great exasperation.

"Well, she's pretty understanding (Sonic gave a tremendously derisive laugh at this statement) and I'm sure she wouldn't want to get married before we finish Robotnik once and for all. And even if you _did_ get hitched she might just want to travel the world with you and help you uphold freedom, like in that movie about the two detectives who were married, or, were they spies…" but before Tails could find the answer to this new problem Sonic spoke up.

"Tails, you're my best friend and pretty much the greatest younger brother I never had, we've spent a lot of our lives together, heck, dare I say it I love ya little bro (Tails couldn't help but give a sly smile and raise an eyebrow at this) but there are still come things you don't quite get about me."

"Alright" said Tails holding up his hands in a shrug. "I'll help you think of a way to ditch her".

"Awesome" Sonic replied with a grin, his spirits lifting.

'After all' he thought, 'two heads are better than one and there are few heads as bright as Tails's'.

The two sat in silence on the rock, the sun was down by now and the stars were tentatively beginning to fill the sky as the half-crescent moon came through the clouds. Certainly they had chosen a good spot to contemplate. Suddenly Tails spoke up.

"I got it" he said with a snap of his fingers "take Amy out on a date!" Sonic just stared at the fox with a dumbfounded look of incredulity; mouth open, brow corrugated in disbelief.

"Let me finish!" said Tails noticing the expression. "You take her out on a date, but you mess it up so _catastrophically_ that she thinks you're just not worth it!"

Sonic considered this idea, and on the whole it seemed a good one. "Yeah… but wouldn't it hurt Amy's feelings if I treated her badly?"

"You don't have to treat her badly; you just have to show her that you're really unsophisticated…"

"Hey! I'm very sophisticated!" Sonic protested.

"_Pretend_ to be unsophisticated" Tails said bracingly "Just make sure it's the worst date ever, do everything wrong; be late, be cheap, talk only about yourself, and just show her that you're… pretty much completely un-house-trained!"

"Hang on there I don't want people to get the wrong idea about me!" said Sonic holding out his hand in protest.

"Do you want to spend the rest of your life being a wack-a-mole?"

"No" Sonic replied with resignation. "I suppose it'll be worth it for that, besides it's the best plan I've got." He rose "I'll go to her place tomorrow and ask her out." They then walked down the hill together to discuss their plan of action for the date.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a bright Wednesday afternoon when Sonic approached Amy's house. He had been a couple of times before but still found the loud orange wooden panelling to be very garish. He came up to the white front door and knocked; Amy answered and upon seeing Sonic visibly brightened. "OOOOH! Come in Sonic!" she said with a squeal. Sonic blenched as he stepped over the threshold.

She took him to the drawing room and offered him an armchair.

"Tea or hot coffee?" she said sweetly.

"Tea" Sonic said without hesitation, he had a vague mistrust of the latter.

Amy left the room and Sonic took time to look around the room. It was surprisingly conservative in its decoration; the wallpaper had white and light pink stripes and upon it hung family portraits and paintings of rural landscapes. The furniture was a mixture of sofas and armchairs arranged around a glass-topped coffee table in front of a fireplace and on the mantelpiece were an assembly of little ornaments and two vases filled with sweetpeas giving the room a pleasant fragrance. Sonic concluded that the outside betrayed the inside of the house in terms of décor.

Amy returned with a tray with the tea, "milk and sugar?" she offered.

"Yes please" Sonic replied perfunctorily accepting the mug she gave him.

She sat down on the sofa opposite which Sonic was grateful for as he had expected her to try and snuggle up beside him on the armchair.

"So, what are you here for?" she said tilting her head a bit to the left with a loving gaze at him.

"Well…" said Sonic nervously running his finger around the lip of his mug. "I was, wondering, if, er…" his voice sank into a whisper as he mentally steeled himself for what he was about to say "would-you-go-out-on-a-date-with-me" he said in one breath.

For the next few seconds there was a total silence, it was the sort of silence that followed an atomic blast that briefly cast a total void of any sound whatsoever. Amy's pupils shrank in size to the size of pin-pricks and for a femtosecond Sonic wondered if he had already done something horribly wrong. Then it happened.

Amy with a peal of joy blasted through the ceiling like a tomahawk missile and Sonic could do nothing but stare up at her to see that she was literally over the moon. She then heeded the call of gravity as quickly as she had defied it and fell onto Sonic with the force of a Grand Slam bomb. Amy picked up the flattened Sonic, apparently unharmed by her brief stratospheric expedition and pressed him to her chest.

"Of course! Of course! Of course!" She yelled with tears in her eyes. Finally, after all these years, she had won.

Sonic walked out a few minutes later down the garden path, a thousand-yard stare that would have done justice to a tragic mask on his face. Tails was waiting for him at the gate.

"I see she said yes" as he had observed her trajectory a few moments ago.

Sonic's only reply was a sound that was just barely carried on his breath.

"buh."

* * *

It was a cool Saturday evening and Sonic was standing in Empire City Park gazing at the illuminated face of the 19th century street clock that stood in the centre of an island of geraniums in a path crossway. The clock read 7:15, about 15 minutes after he was supposed to meet Amy there, and yet she was the one who had not turned up. Sonic had at first thought he had arrived too late and Amy had already left but then again this _was_ Amy he was meeting and the Amy _he_ knew had the patience of a saint. The alternative was she was late herself in which case the whole exercise had been a complete waste of time on his part. 'I have the dignity to turn up late and yet she can't be bothered to show up at all' Sonic thought as he tapped his foot, fists on his hips.

"I'm waaaaiting!" he said to no-one in particular.

He heard footsteps and quickly turned on the spot to see Amy walking up one of the paths. She was wearing a very fetching black knee-length dress, high heels and clutching a brown leather handbag no doubt from some fashionable designer house. Sonic had to concede that she looked very pretty, and yet, there was something false about her smile or at least a hint of dejection in her eyes that he couldn't help but notice even in the twilight.

"Hi Sonic sweetie, I'm sorry I'm late, I know you _hate_ waiting." Her voice seemed to be in its normal sing-song state at least, he thought.

"Hi Amy, shall we get on with it?"

Maintain disinterest, Sonic thought, don't indulge her, make this date unforgettably bad.

"Yeah, sure…"

Her voice was losing its sweetness already; clearly something must have happened on the way here. Sonic fought an urge to inquire what had happened but that would show her he was a good boyfriend.

"Right, let's take a walk around the park and go find somewhere to eat" Sonic said with aloof formality.

The pair strolled down the path together looking up at the night sky. Amy asked to hold Sonic's hand and Sonic begrudgingly agreed. However apart from Amy's "Aren't the stars _beautiful_ tonight Sonic?" they shared little in the way of conversation. As Sonic had planned, the whole affair was awkward and it would only get more awkward as the night went on, but not necessarily as Sonic intended…

After their constitutional in the park Sonic took Amy to a cinema. He had deliberately chosen the one theatre that did not show any films of Amy's interest but rather _Lethal Assets 3: Retribution, The Revengeing_; an action film directed by schlockmeister Roland Bay with a body-count reaching the triple digits, a film that would hold zero interest in Amy whatsoever. After 2 hours of testosterone-fuelled yelling and super-surround-sound enhanced explosions the two staggered out of the cinema and onto the final insult, dinner at _McWendy's_ _White Citadel_ for some of their alleged chili dogs.

Like most _White Citadel_s the restaurant was lit by white neon lights giving it a clinical feel that was counteracted by the smell of grease that hung in the air. Sonic had originally intended to go to an upmarket establishment and to have acted as a boorish yob. This, however, would work just as well and would have the added benefits of being cheaper and not publically humiliating Amy. He ordered a dozen chili dogs which he ate with such gusto that even diners at this establishment shot him looks of disapproval.

And yet, in spite of all this; all the lack of conversation, all the wrong choices of entertainment & venue, and the fact that Amy was tucking in to a burger rather than filet minon, she was still smiling at Sonic. As Sonic finished his last chili dog he broached the question he'd been dying to know all evening.

"So, how are you feeling?"

"Oh, fine" was all she said.

There was a pregnant pause.

"So, why were you running late?"

Amy was silent, but Sonic noticed that her lip was quivering; he grew steadily more and more nervous as he noticed a glint in her eye. He braced for impact. Then she leaned forwards and buried her face in her hands.

"I-I'm so sorry…" she said, her voice breaking as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Sonic was caught completely off guard by this turn of events, "W-wha…?" was all he could say.

She looked up at him, her running mascara giving her a pathetic look.

"All these years, all those times I asked you out, all the times I stalked you and obsessed over you. I never considered how much it must have… annoyed you." She gave a loud sniff. "I _loved_ you the first time I saw you, every time I close my eyes I dream about you, and all I wanted was to go out with you." She blew her nose on a napkin completely oblivious to Sonic and the rest of the diners and staff staring at the over-dressed hedgehog undergoing a breakdown in their mist. "So when you came over to ask me out the other day I was ecstatic, but then… then I remembered all the pain I must have caused you and I never stopped to think about what I had been doing to you and I never apologised for it, in fact you probably felt forced to do it" she sobbed. "I don't deserve you as a boyfriend…" Her head slipped down into her crossed arms on the table as she wept.

A maelstrom of feelings was going through Sonic as he sat rigid across from the despairing girl. On the one hand she was totally right; she _was_ a major irritation to him. Yet on the other she was also admitting to it, apologising for it, saying he deserved better than her. An unfamiliar sensation of discomfort was in the pit of his stomach that had nothing to do with the low-grade chili dogs he just ate. It was a feeling of abject shame. Why had he put her through all this pretence just to crush her spirit? Why didn't he just tell her straight out? Then again he _had_ tried to tell her straight out that her love was unrequited, on numerous occasions. Yet maybe he just hadn't been clear enough to her, but what was clearer than running away from her, didn't that show he couldn't stand her? But then if that was the case, why did he even hang out with her if he didn't…

His train of thought was interrupted by a loud report that came from outside. The _White Citadel_ Sonic happened to have chosen was situated opposite of a branch of _Imperial Bank_ PLC which also happened to be the exact same branch that Dr Robotnik had decided to 'dip into' in order to secure some more capital for his global domination projects (secret volcanic bases were very hefty investments after all). While the many legitimate business fronts to fund his efforts such as his casino resorts were highly lucrative occasional setbacks (like the destruction of his listening outpost by that pesky blue hedgehog) meant he had to sometimes opt for the less-sophisticated smash and grabs. Of course a level-headed man would be content to live a comfortable life on the wealth provided by the legitimate businesses he owned without scheming global conquest, but then Robotnik was not that type of person.

Sonic turned his head in the direction of the explosion to see a swarm of Egg-Pawns and various other badniks disgorging from a small aerial transport ship hovering 10 feet from the ground across the street and surging towards the bank. Without a moment's hesitation he leapt into the air and spindashed though the glass window, not for the first time in his life glad that Robotnik had interrupted his 'time-off'. He charged forward and dealt a furious series of blows to a group of five Egg-Pawns. Giving the first an aerial kick to the 'head' crippling it's CPU and leaving a shower of sparks, before stomping down on the head of the second crushing it's central processors. Using the momentum gained from this attack he somersaulted into the air while simultaneously curling up into the infamous buzzsaw-shaped ball that was his spindash as he punched straight through the remaining three with such force that he passed in and out each of their bodies as the stood in line, violently exploding in a shower of fire and flame. Such is the ferocious speed of the hedgehog that all of this occurred within the span of two seconds, and he had no intention of slowing down.

"Sorry Buttnik but I'm afraid I'm going to have to refuse this loan!" Sonic quipped with a sneer as he performed another somersault attack on SWATbot. He was in his prime element, that evening had been a dream, it must have been; he'd _never_ ask Amy out on a date…

"Sonic!" a voice cried.

Sonic turned to see Amy running up towards the commotion. She had broken the heels off her shoes for mobility and was carrying her hammer (where _did_ she keep that? Sonic couldn't help but wonder) and still wearing the black dress. The tears in her eyes were gone.

"I'll deal with that transport and you round up the rest!" She yelled imperiously.

She then proceeded to bombard the hovering vehicle with badniks which she slugged with her hammer. She thwacked an Egg-Pawn in its underbelly and it flew like a missile into the cockpit of the aircraft and it exploded spectacularly as the pilot lost control and swung into the ground. Sonic however was too busy to appreciate the explosion as he was dodging, ducking, and diving between Badniks in a brutal dance of destruction. Smashing into their hulls with his spines, ripping out their circuitry with his fists and in a completely ostentatious move threw a Buzz-Bomber into the final Egg-Pawn like a harpoon piercing its body as it crumpled to the ground.

"I think he got the point!" He laughed at his own joke.

Sonic's faculties were then overcome with a strange sensation of lightness as noticed the colour of the world around him ceding over to pure whiteness. In the far distance he heard the sound of a robotic voice saying 'priority one hedgehog!' Slowly, very slowly, he fell.


	3. Chapter 3

Sonic awoke from what seemed like an eon of sleep. Looking around him with bleary eyes he could make out that he was in a large grey metallic room with completely smooth walls and only a door as a singular feature. He tried lifting his arms but to his dismay he was shackled to the wall behind him, rendering him immobile. He heard the sounds of machinery reduced to an ambient drone by distance.

BANG.

Before Sonic could even formulate an escape plan the edges of the door flashed white and smoke emanated from its cracks. The door fell forward with a clang that reverberated around the room and the silhouette of a diminutive twin-tailed fox stood in the threshold.

"Tails!"

"Finally" was the only reply as Tails walked up to Sonic and pulled out a pen-like object that emitted a cutting laser which sliced though his manacles.

Sonic dropped onto the floor.

"Way past cool Tails! Now where exactly is this joint and how did you get here?"

"You're on one of Robotnik's airships, I was monitoring his comms and I heard you had been captured" Tails said matter-of-factly "I took the Tornado here and got on-board, but I had to ditch it so we're going to have to find our own way down."

"We have to find Amy first."

Tails gave an OK and quickly set out with Sonic to find the pink hedgehog. Sonic had been held in the high-security brig and the other prisoners were being held on the floor above. No alarms were sounding; Tails had seen to that, and within a minute they were in a white corridor with several heavy-duty doors. Tails and Sonic went up to each one in turn, sliding open the peep-holes to peer inside until…

"Here she is!" cried Sonic.

Before Tails could get out his plastic explosives however Sonic had used his buzzsaw manoeuvre to cut though the lock before kicking the door open with a clang. Inside her cell Amy woke up with a start.

"Sonic, my hero!"

"Hey, I did most the work!" Tails grumbled.

She ignored him and ran over to Sonic giving him a squeeze as he grimaced. Did she remember anything about last night, or however long ago it was? Suddenly she let go and blushed. Then followed a short pause in which Amy and Sonic stared blankly at each other, trying to guess what the other thought. Amy then broke the silence.

"Sonic, Tails, where are we?"

"In one of Robotnik's battleships, now let's get moving!"

Sonic grabbed her by the arm and ran, Tails following behind. He didn't know where he was going or what exactly he was looking for but the more he ran the less he had to talk with Amy.

Suddenly as they entered what looked like a hangar bay for aircraft a large sentry robot stepped in front of the group, guns on each arm. It let out a volley of bullets at Sonic who leapt out of the way only just in time. Tails meanwhile flew up into the air and descended upon a small flyer and set to work on the cockpit door.

"Keep it busy! I'll hotwire this!" The fox bellowed.

Sonic however was ahead of him; he noticed two more sentries had appeared and were firing at Amy who was running for cover behind some crates while holding her hammer (Tails had given it to her just after they had sprung her). A sentry then fired a grenade which blasted the floor in front of her sending her flying backwards, then it levelled its gun to her unconscious body…

"Oh no you don't!"

Sonic yelled as he dashed forwards with tremendous speed and launched himself like a living missile at the sentry bot, bursting through its metallic hide. Whipping around he saw that one of the others was about to grab her with its metallic hand, a field of electricity surrounding it. Sonic let out a roar as he surged forward fist extended as he dealt an uppercut which ripped the bot's head along with a trail of internal cables off its body. His hand was screaming in protest from the pain but he ignored it. Then he swung around, a basilisk glare in his eyes as he drove relentlessly towards the final sentry. Sonic did not even bother with any combat technique; the sheer force of his relentless velocity thrust the robot back as though it had been hit by a train as it smashed into the wall.

Sonic stood quite still for a second as he looked around for more challengers and found none. Then he went up to the unconscious Amy and cradling her in his arms went over to Tails who was waiting in the pilot's seat of the craft. Tails flicked a switch and the transports twin engines roared into life, Carefully he pulled out of the row of aircraft and swung around to face the hangar door which was resolutely shut.

"Open sesame!"

He pulled a trigger on his joystick firing tow under-slung missiles from the craft and into the closed door, the result of which was a convenient exit. The fox then coolly guided the craft's progress out of the hole in the hangar door and into the gloriously bright yonder and made his descent.

As they flew closer to the ground the ship above them ruptured in a ball of flame. Tails explained to a perplexed Sonic that he had set some explosives on the ship, when Sonic asked if they were timed or had been remotely detonated when they were at a safe distance he was suddenly overcome with an acute case of deafness.

"I'm afraid we don't have much gas left, I'll have to set her down here" Said Tails tapping his finger on the fuel gauge, the needle of which was on 'E'.

* * *

After they landed Sonic carried the still unconscious Amy out of the transport and set her down on a rock.

"Well she's still alive" Tails observed.

"Thank goodness"

Tails then gave a funny look at Sonic.

"You really were mad at those bots weren't you?" He said with casual nonchalance.

"Yeah, I'd be mad if any of my friends were in danger."

"Yeah, but you were _really_ mad at those robots" the formations of a smile beginning to appear on Tail's countenance.

"I'd just been though a rough day" Sonic said irritably.

"Yeah, I was about to ask, how did that date go?"

He had to bring that up didn't he? Sonic thought.

"Rotten just as planned, but to be honest I think I felt even more rotten. She was seriously apologising for all the trouble she caused me, she even said she didn't deserve me."

"So I guess our plan worked, kind-of" Tails said, the smile now growing sardonic.

"I guess so, but…"

"You like her don't you?" Tails interrupted.

"Yeah, I mean no! I mean, she's a friend but not a _girl_friend" Sonic protested.

"You _really_ like her don't you?" Tails said, his expression becoming more and more sardonic.

"Shut up Tails!"

"You _luuurve_ Amy Rose! You just don't want to admit it because you like playing hard to get and want to look 'cool', but deep down you just _adore_ her fangirlishness!" He was beginning to overdo the smile and it began to transform into a leer.

"Oh go home!"

Laughing, Tails flew off as Sonic threw a stone at him and missed, which he was secretly glad of as he didn't want another person mad at him.

He looked around and came to the realisation that this was the exact same spot where he had tried to culminate a plan to get rid of Amy, except this time she was here with him, on the rock where he sat.

"Sonic…"

Sonic looked down to see that Amy was stirring. Amy looked up at the sky and even though her blurred vision and the fading light could easily distinguish the outline of Mobius' greatest hero.

"Amy, you OK?" Sonic said in a noncommittal voice helping her to sit up.

"Sonic, why does it have to be like this?"

There was a brief pause as like on the ship the two simply looked at each other. Then tears began to well in Amy's eyes.

Like most of his sex, Sonic was at a complete loss as to why girls cried. Tails once said it probably had something to do with 'her cycle' but that made no sense whatsoever; Amy didn't even own a bike.

"Amy, it's… alright" was all he could say.

"All I want to do is for both of us to be happy together, but all that happens is Robotnik gets in our way and… stuff. I don't want to be a burden; I really want to be as fast and as strong as you so we can be together… Why can't you see that I want to only be with you, b-but why do you ignore me? Don't I have appeal?" Amy's voice began to break and tears rolled down her cheeks.

There followed another silence as Sonic cast his mind over what Tails had said to him earlier, did he _really_ love Amy? No, of course not she was little more than a friend to him. Then again, perhaps, somewhere deep (very deep) down inside of him, he did love Amy Rose. The tough, self-reliant, ever loyal, ever hopeful Amy, not the clingy, mushy, girly-girl Amy. His love however was not something that he would freely give away; he would make Amy work for it and when she won it he would surrender himself to her heart and soul. That however was one of the few things he could wait for. As the last 48 hours had shown there was too much rigmarole for even Sonic to bear in going steady right now; movie tickets for one thing were criminally overpriced.

"Yeah, but so does a banana but I don't even want that at the moment." Sonic replied jovially.

Her tears vanished as quickly as they came and with a howl of fury Amy drew her hammer and brought it down on Sonic's head with an almighty wallop.

"That's not funny Sonic! Why do you have to be so mean you…"

Sonic was however already up and running, Amy following in pursuit and now profusely apologetic (although she still carried the hammer).

"No Sonic come back! I'm sorry I overreacted it's just…"

In time he might indulge her thought Sonic. But while having Amy as a girlfriend would result in less head injuries, life not being a whack-a-hog would be very dull indeed…


End file.
